Lisa Kellner
“Everything Already and Then”
About the Show
I make paintings and sculptural constructions about the environment, societal constructs and how weoccupy space.
Using a reductive language and an intuitive approach, my work explores dimension, place and systems of mark making. I’m interested in forging spatial relationships between the physical and the intangible. Inspired by nature, history and the spaces humans create for themselves, my paintings conflate place and structure with memory and perception. A blending occurs; consolidating all into one.
This ongoing series of paintings, Land and Sea, begins with the initial, yet enduring glimpse of the natural world. A walk through a stand of trees or an open seaview vista becomes a grid like system of color, shape and line. Chosen colors are inspired by up close studies of the most intricate spaces found in nature: fungi growing on a rock or the way the light hits a wave at just the right moment. In each painting, I am trying to capture the present moment. I see the present as a layering of history translated as color and gesture, layer upon layer until the canvas feels complete.
Sometimes an underpainting is left visible on the canvas. Other times, the underpainting is concealed leaving only a hint of what came before. In the studio, these paintings are limitless configurations to explore, much as nature itself provides unlimited ways of being experienced. Employing elements of minimal abstraction, grid formations, color field and landscape, these paintings seek a sense of balance to impart an immersive calmness and quiet euphoria. Particular constraints are employed in Land & Sea, in order to focus on essential connections between form, color and composition.
Each part of the painting directly responds to the spaces surrounding it. The intention is for these relationships to convey a certain feeling or meaning within the viewer. For me, these paintings are an exercise in attaining harmony and tension between what is known and what is possible. Ultimately, the primary concern here is how the process of painting itself becomes the subject and mode of communicating the ineffable.
Biography:
Lisa Kellner’s paintings and sculptural constructions have been exhibited throughout the UnitedStates and internationally. Her work can be found in private residences and commercial spaces in the United States, Europe and Japan. Exhibiting institutions include the Bellevue Arts Museum (WA), the Lower Manhattan Cultural Council (NY), the Brooklyn Arts Council (NY), the Weatherspoon Museum (NC), the Islip Art Museum, Washington Project for the Arts and the Muscarelle Museum of Art (VA), among others. She has created site-responsive installations for institutions including the Cornell Fine Arts Museum (FL), the Bellevue Arts Museum (WA), Lower Manhattan Cultural Council Swing Space (NY), Brooklyn Arts Council (NY), the Center for Maine Contemporary Art (ME), Lehman College Art Gallery (NY) and the Target Gallery at the Torpedo Factory (VA). In addition, Kellner has worked with galleries such as Ascent Contemporary (NY), Project 4 (DC), BravinLee Projects (NY), JoAnne Artman (LA), Granite Gallery and Artemis Gallery, both in Maine. Kellner’s work has been reviewed and mentioned in publications including The New York Times, The Boston Globe and Sculpture Magazine.
Lisa has received several awards including the New Media Invitational from the Target Gallery, DC and was nominated a Joan Mitchell Emerging Artist semi-finalist. Recent curated exhibitions include Materiality: The Matter of Matter at the Center for Maine Contemporary Art (ME), Lost and Found at the Umbrella Arts Center (CT), Nature Triumphs at Five Points Arts Center (CT) and the Granite Gallery Invitational (ME). Lisa has collaborated on projects with organizations including Artspace, NY. She has worked with various artists on projects such as the USPS Art Project and curated an exhibition with artist Huguette Despault May entitled, What Matters Most. Lisa continues her interview series, Five Questions for Artists, that focuses on artists’ thoughts about why and how they make their work. She is currently working on a monograph in conjunction with a series of new paintings that will be exhibited in 2023.
207-702-0306
@lisakellnerstudio